This collection offers original perspectives on applied theatre relevant to the twenty-first-century performer and researcher. Chapters explore socially engaged theatre from a range of global and historical contexts, and draw on new propositions from cultural and political theory to explore theatre's responsiveness to current economic and environmental concerns.

1. Applied theatre: ecology of practices Jenny Hughes and Helen Nicholson; Part I. Histories and Cultural Memories: 2. Toward a historiography of the absent: on the late pasts of applied theatre and community performance Baz Kershaw; 3. A pre-history of applied theatre: work, house, perform Jenny Hughes; 4. Applied theatre and cultural memory in East and Southeast Asia Wan-Jung Wang; 5. Dear Nise: method, madness and artistic occupation at a psychiatric hospital in Rio de Janeiro Paul Heritage and Silvia Ramos; Part II. Place, Community and Environment: 6. Performing location: place and applied theatre Sally Mackey; 7. Peacebuilding performances in the aftermath of war: lessons From Bougainville Paul Dwyer; 8. Applied theatre and climate change in Bangladesh: indigenous theatrics for Neoliberal theatricks Syed Jamil Ahmed; 9. Applied theatre and disaster capitalism: resisting and rebuilding in Christchurch Peter O'Connor; Part III. Poetics and Participation: 10. Applied theatre and participation in the 'new' South Africa: a possible politics Mark Fleishman; 11. Staging labour rights D. Soyini Madison; 12. The micro-political and the socio-structural in applied theatre with homeless youth Kathleen Gallagher; 13. A good day out: applied theatre, relationality and participation Helen Nicholson.